Hollywood Records
2006
Despite Our Differences
About This Album
The Indigo Girls move to Hollywood Records -- home of Los Lobos among others -- and do what they do best, but add some new shades and textures as well. For starters, there are no anthemic political statements here, unless you are willing to regard to the truly personal as political (an admirable stance in this crazy world). Secondly, Emily Saliers and Amy Ray really concentrate on hooks on Despite Our Differences. What the record reflects, with its gorgeous blend of acoustic guitars, slippery snare drums and cymbals, and the painterly use of electric guitars and keyboards, is a relaxed, moving, and utterly poetic offering. For many, the Indigo Girls have become a fixture, much like R.E.M., whose albums would come out year by year and blur into one another. It wasn't a rut so much as an attempt to do what they patented best. Despite Our Differences is actually different. Produced by Mitchell Froom, there is a new hunger in these tracks; there is no desperation, but a confident excitement about the craft and construction of songs that weave themselves into an album. Sure, "Pendulum Swinger" is an overtly political song, but it comes not solely from an ideology, but from a heart, wounded and ready for a culture war that can only occur with the guidance of love, collective, cultural, and personal.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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